Posted on 09/07/2001 6:27:44 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
It is, I suppose, inevitable that the uninformed media will be writing a lot of articles about Utah and the Mormons in the next few months as the state prepares to host the 2002 Olympics. When I moved to the State a couple of years ago I saw a lot of the preparation already taking place. Getting on the I-15 freeway that bisects the state from North to South was always an adventure. It was being widened to handle the additional traffic the Olympics would bring and the process was a trial to the public. One never knew exactly where one would end up, during those construction days. A trip TO Salt Lake on the I-15 might be uneventful but the trip back a couple of hours later might find the driver on an unfamiliar detour.
The roads are about finished. Now, it seems, the detours and surprises are going to be in reading about Utah and the dominant religion of the state written by people who either know nothing about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or are deliberately putting out incorrect information. I haven't figured out yet which category the current article in Newsweek, written by religion writer Kenneth Woodward.
He begins with: "Not since the ancient Olympiads were held under the gaze of Zeus and his randy band of gods and goddesses have the Games been staged in a locale so thoroughly saturated by a single religion."
I would think the Catholics wouldn't appreciate that slight. As recently as 1960 the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy were staged in a "locale thoroughly saturated" with the Catholic faith, and "under the gaze" of their leader and with the actually, the first televised Olympics was held in Rome, Italy in 1960. In 1960 Catholicism was the State Religion and most of its citizens were adherents.
And, as recently as last year International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch and about 80,000 other invited guests. heard Pope John Paul II, who played goalkeeper in soccer games as a boy in Poland, celebrate a Sunday Mass at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, a mile from St. Peter's square.
A sentence or two later Woodward says, "Business in Salt Lake is usually done the Mormon way or not at all." That must be quite a surprise to the 51% of the population of Salt Lake City who are not Mormons.
One sentence later Woodward announces, "But Mormon leaders also regard the Games as a God-given opportunity to flash the many facets of their faith around the globe." Actually spreading their religion around the globe is the job of the Church's 60,000+ missionaries.
While those, and many other little inaccuracies are merely make any Utahan wonder how accurate any of the rest of Woodward's religion articles are, his venture into Church doctrine, which he mangles even worse, would seem to indicate he might try talking to a Mormon missionary or two the next time he takes a stab at writing about them.
He says states:
"But for more than two decades now, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has worked hard to alter its image. ... Above all, the church now insists it be regarded as a Christian church, albeit one with doctrines about God, salvation and the priesthood that differ radically from traditional Christianity. For example: with Olympic fever heating up, the church's hierarchy recently advised the media that the term Mormon Church is no longer acceptable."
Actually, as recently as May of this year the Church issued a press release on this subject which stated:
"The terms Mormon fundamentalist and Mormon splinter group are regularly, albeit inaccurately, used by some news media outlets to describe individuals or organizations who practice polygamy. Such use of these terms is misleading, since they imply that the individual or organization described is affiliated in some way with "the Mormons" or "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."...Henceforth, officials declared, short references to the church should read: "The Church of Jesus Christ." In this way the church hopes to emphasize what Mormons share with historic Christianity, not what makes them different.
In fact, the Associated Press Stylebook says that "Mormon is a nickname applied exclusively to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members." This is not exactly news. The name of the Church has BEEN The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since about 1838 and sometime later the nickname "Mormon" came into use. Journalists interested in accuracy use the correct name of people, places and groups they write about.
It gets worse. He goes on to say:
"Internally, this emphasis on Jesus has been even more dramatic. Traditionally, Mormon teaching focused on founder Joseph Smith as God's latter-day prophet whose revelations led to the restoration of the ancient Hebraic priesthood and of the one true church. Today more than one image of Smith is hard to find in the church's magnificent new conference center in Salt Lake City. Instead, the walls are lined with huge murals depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. This change in iconography can also be seen in local chapels, called "wards," where Mormons gather every Sunday for three hours. In 1971, images of Jesus appeared only five times in the church's official monthly publication, the Ensign; in 1999, the Ensign published 119 of them."
Finding copies of Ensigns from the 1970s are not that hard in Utah, although most Newsweek readers might have difficulty checking out that statement. First, a larger number of pictures are used in the magazine today than in 1971, but the PERCENTAGE of the pictures used and the topics of the articles of the 1970s vintage magazine seems pretty much the same as today. Secondly, far from hiding Joseph Smith from view, there seemed a lot more pictures of Joseph Smith in recent Ensigns than in the 1970s Ensigns. Also, if Woodward wanted to see an "image" of Joseph Smith he might have walked down a block to the restored building which was once a 19th Century hotel and is now the Joseph Smith Building, complete with a nine foot statue of Joseph Smith that's hard to miss.
And, after all, the topics of the articles are more significant than picture counting. One article in a 1972 Ensign was so timely it could just about be reprinted today with little change. It was a report from Ireland Mission President about "What happens to the Lord's work on a battleground that has for hundreds of years fielded two highly principled but opposing religious alliances, both of which are Christian..." The article was illustrated with black and white photographs of fighting between Protestants and Catholics on the streets of Belfast.
Woodward's parting shot at the church was:
"The church wants to see Salt Lake profit from the Games; it doesn't want the blame if their hometown's huge investment fails. But instead of missionaries asking questions on the streets, there'll be reporters wondering what lies behind the church's many veils. It could be Mormonism's moment of truth.
Far from being "veiled" The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the largest number of missionaries per capita of any religion in existence. Sixty Thousand people, young men, young women and older couples, are telling anyone willing to listen what the Church teaches. Eleven million members, young and old, are happy to tell interested friends and acquaintances what the Church believes. The Church has a whole floor of its 28-story office building dedicated to public affairs.
The Mormons in Utah are not exactly in hiding. Its too bad that Woodward either just didn't listen and already had so many mistaken notions about them that he came to the conclusion the Mormons are changing their minds. Hopefully the next time he comes to Utah he'll do more listening and less criticizing.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com .
Did Woodward buy his "religion reporter" credentials at a fire sale? If he thinks Mormons haven't been willing to share their faith, he's not paying attention.
I'm not Morman, so I speak from significant ignorance. But, from my understanding with friends and co-workers who are Mormom, those "many veils" involve practices of the church for members. Become a member, you'll find out what's there. Whether I agree with the LDS church or not, that makes sense to me.
Totally off-topic: One of my favorite movie lines,
Jim Kirk to Jillian in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, referring to Spock, Kirk says "He was at Berkeley in the 60s, he did a little too much LDS."
You may be interested in the expose' book of former Mormon Deborah Lake's Secret Ceremony(1992-3??). Then again you may not find it as the 'missionaries' have been given permission to steal the book from bookstores. From what I can discern from former Mormons...this author's experiences with the Mormon hierarchy, practices parallels their own.
I'm not interested in either promoting or denegrating the Mormons. Let me just say that I do know enough Mormon theology and enough of my own theology to know I'm comfortable with my own. I also know that if we're scheduling a debate, I'm not the one to defend or promote either side.
That said, my point was that it just seemed that as a religion reporter, Woodward may not be as informed as he would like us to believe.
Pavlov's dogs have nothing on you guys.
Several relatives/friends were former LDS church and gave me the book...they stated their experiences were similar and/or worse regarding the author's. That is the basis for my reply.
I've posted articles on this forum for over 3 1/2 years, possibly approaching 7,000 articles, plus numerous replies.. I challenge you to review my postings and list all my bashings.
Otherwise ...pound salt!
Then of course you prove my point by documenting your past bashes,and follow that by the usual testiness.Sheesh.
How fast I showed up??...I posted this article!
Then of course you prove my point by documenting your past bashes,and follow that by the usual testiness.Sheesh.
Documenting my bashes....O Lord, the reading comprehension of some....I challenged you to do a search. But you couldn't.
I should have said the word "mormon" appearing in any article or thread instead of leaving out the word "article". Either way my sentiment stands, in this case the word "mormon" seems to have triggered your post.
I just don't understand what makes you Mormon bashers,(generic), so quick on the draw and so testy!!
And one rebuttal to your comment about missionaries stealing books from bookstores. Sorry, the Church would never issue orders for missionaries to steal books from bookstores, officially or unofficially.
lol...what triggered my post was in response to another that stated one had to be a member to understand/know of the various practices/teachings of LDS.
My was response was predicated upon the reading of the referenced book, the statements of relatives/friends. I responded within my own sphere of knowledge/understanding.
Raised as a Catholic, the practices of LDS of gauze type underwear to ward off/protect from evil, the stepping through the veil at the Temple, the husband giving his wife her 'secret name' as he called her through the veil, the husband (after death) would be a 'god' among many planets calling his various wives (if applicable) by their secret names to rule with him, the branding of divorced wives as witches and were to be shunned, ....ARE ALL foreign concepts to me. I never thought it possible. I just referenced a book that I thought was germaine to the other FReeper's statement.
FReegards
Read the book, I'm now curious enough to find it and refresh my memory.
Read the book ... I'm now curious enough to find it and refresh my memory on all the situations.
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